worldofpaving wrote:Hmmm, R&A, MSH, this is not misleading info, I have used bleach myself succesfully in the past for this purpose.
As for PPE, my wife uses bleach quite regularly around the house and observes the basic instructions given on the bottle.
All of the people will not agree with all of the things that are posted all of the time but when an attempt is made to help someone I don't believe that your comments are helpful or constructive.
It goes without saying that the best and wisest course will always be to get a professional in to deal with the problem but there is a cost attached which many people are reluctant to pay.
My apologies for not having scoured the main site before posting, I did not realise that this was a pre-requisite for trying to help someone.
WOP
Oh dear someone's nose has been put out of joint.
Really can't be asked to answer this one, But one thing though, you WOP should really know better then most to question PPE advice, more is better then less if you are not used to working with chemicals.
"I'm really pleased to see health and safety and training get early postings - I was mentioning to Tony just the other day that these are tricky subjects in our industry : so often it's been the fashion to be the man of iron who knows it all - "gloves? don't need 'em, mate" - "training - nah, been in the game for 35 years..." Dust mask? "You avin' a larf" (I'm from London....)"
So it sounds that you like me, take H&S, PPE etc seriously and if you look at this topic in the main forum, http://www.pavingexpert.com/stains.htm
Berries & Fruit section which states what to wear when using Sodium Hypochlorite. I know you are refering to household bleach in this thread, but as I said earlier this is an open forum and I would rather give more cautious advice then just read what it says on the label as people don't always follow that properly.
Tony McC wrote:There is a solvent that can be used to clean off Romex that has been allowed to 'set' on the surface of paving.
I'm guessing that, if the resin film is still there after 6 months, then too much was left on the surface. We jointed the Celtic Knot just three weeks back and there's not a trace of the film residue left behind.
If you call Rompox Ray [07872 824010] after the bank holiday, he'll be able to tell you how to get hold of the cleaning solvent.
Hi,
I've spoke to Ray and looks like the solvent Tony mentioned is Romex's own Power Clean:
Ray did the business and managed to get me some of the Romex Power Clean. I've now had 2 attempts following the instructions to the letter but the stuff just won't shift this resin surface soling. I will send a photo to Tony to attach to this post but my pennant sandstone just looks worse than ever (particularly when I compare it to my nice clean offcuts). In fact, I've pressure washed the paving so much I'm sure that there are some very small holes appearing in some of the flags even though I've tried not to get too close with the hose.
I reckon I've ruined a grands worth of material with this DIY disaster in applying Romex D1. I'm not sure that there are any more options I can follow. I have applied the Power Clean as specified, waited the right amount of time, then srubbed with a normal hard bristle brush and pressure washed away. I wonder though whether the resin needs a bit more of a scrapping or perhaps a wire brushing to help lift it. Do you guys think that this could damage the sandstone though? Obviously it wouldn't help where the resin has got into any pores in the stone.
Hopefully if I can get a photo on here it might help show the situation a little better. Anyway, it would be fair to say that I'm gutted after spending the last 12 months on this project.
I've been observing jobs which have been jointed using Drain or D1 for over 5 years and in all that time, every single instance of paving being 'spoiled' by the jointing has resulted from incorrect application, and I'd guess that somewhere around 75% of those instances stem from users allowing the product to remain on the surface for far too long.
Anyway, there are other "solvents" that might be able to shift the residue. The "Power Clean" is supposed to be the most appropriate but it's not necessarily the most powerful, despite its name. Once I've seen the photos, I might be able to suggest which product to try next.
Thanks for the replies and hopefully (thanks to Tony) you should be able to see a couple of photos (one a close up of one of the 'better' flags):
I will post a better commentary tomorrow but for know you see the extent of my incompetence (p.s. the other end of the path not shown in the photos is much better and I must have got better at brushing the resin off as I went along - not much of a defence though!).
Thanks for the comments on the work, just a shame I failed with the Romex!
I'm getting to the point where it may just be worth leaving the flags as they are now, use the Romex Colour Enhancer to bring the limestone edges back up to scratch then seal.
I've noticed that I've got a few slight rusty patches on a couple of flags now which must be down to a reaction with the acids in the Romex Power Clean.
Obviously I'm concerned that I will probably do more harm than good trying to clean up the flags any further. When it rains, you can't see the 'wet look' from the resin, so one option is to colour enhance it all then seal. Not quite the finish I had in mind when I started this job though.
Anyway, if anyone has any final ideas before I plough on then these would be much appreciated.
you could just suck it and see
leave it a while ,stop looking at it and get on with life
i know a wealthy businessman and he once said to me "tone,nothing is perfect,don't flog yourself looking for perfection,99.9% is near enough"
and in a way he was right
LLL
